Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales

Who we are – CPRW in Wales

CPRW is a responsible national charity founded in 1928. Our concern with landscapes and their contexts gives us a unique place among voluntary bodies in Wales. Membership is open to everyone who shares our passion for the Welsh countryside and our environment. CPRW volunteer members, supported by professional staff, help to influence and secure the implementation of public policy that meets our aims and help local communities shape the future of their areas.

 Monmouthshire CPRW

The Monmouthshire Branch is run by a committee of 12 and currently has some 190 members. Our main ‘bread and butter’ work consists of the monitoring of planning applications to the Monmouthshire County Council and Brecon Beacons National Park. We try to influence the Planning Authorities to reject proposals which we consider to be environmentally or visually damaging and to encourage ‘greener’ and more aesthetically pleasing alternatives. To this end we recently spent a lot of time submitting comments to the Council about its new Unitary Development Plan. We believe that we succeeded in persuading them to reduce the new housing numbers in the final version. We also commented on the new Wye Valley AONB Management Plan. 

Another of our ongoing concerns is the decline of the traditional family farms which have shaped the Monmouthshire countryside as we know it. Farms are being swallowed up or sold off piecemeal to be turned into golf courses or intensive poultry units. In order to survive, farmers are being pushed into ever more intensive methods of production, which are usually bad news for wildlife and landscape. Linked to this is the decline in traditional grassland. Although our fields are probably greener than ever, many of them are now green deserts. The combination of nitrate fertilizers and a monoculture of Ryegrass has weeded out nearly all the wild flowers and the insects that feed on them. When did you last hear a grasshopper? 

One of the most visible signs on the Branch’s recent work is the new Monnow Bridge in Monmouth. The Council’s preferred option was to build the new bridge within 70 metres of the old one, but sustained pressure from local pressure groups, led by CPRW, who produced detailed architectural drawings to show that the present site was technically feasible as well as aesthetically preferable, led to a change of heart.

Other campaigns in which the branch has played a leading role include the campaign to prevent the building of a national cycleway through the ancient water meadows of the Wye Valley and the campaign to prevent the Usk Valley from being designated as a site for large scale sand and gravel extraction. More recently we have been working with the Arrows Initiative to protect our local woods from being carved up and sold off in small parcels for recreational purposes (see below).

The Branch is keen to encourage local events and competitions which encourage a greater awareness of the countryside. For several years now we have been sponsoring the Llanthony Hedging Competition and running – in conjunction with the County Council - a Schools’ Painting and Poetry competition on a variety of environmental themes. We also showcase our work at the annual Usk Show.

John Edwards and Alison Douglas Memorial Appeal

John and his partner Alison were tragically killed in a road accident on 12th August 2005. John was a tireless campaigner both for CPRW and for the Monmouth Action Group. Before he was killed, he was about to take up the reins as CPRW’s National Chairman. The Monmouthshire Branch is co-ordinating an appeal to build a lasting monument to John and Alison in the form of a sculptured stone seat to be situated in the neighbourhood of the old Monnow Bridge, which John did so much to protect.

If you would like to make a donation, please contact the Branch Secretary:   Bill Butler

 

Recent News

Monitoring Planning Applications
We are extremely concerned at the apparent chaos in Monmouthshire County Council’s Planning Department. This is impeding public awareness and discussion of new planning applications – largely due to the chaotic and haphazard way in which the Department now issues its planning notices.

Saving Our Woodland
The branch has continued to actively support the work of the Arrows Initiative to save our woodlands from being split up into small parcels and sold off piecemeal for leisure purposes. Much of this work involves lobbying central and local government.

The Westminster Government has made good its commitment to help planning authorities deal with 'rural sub-plotting' by proposing a series of amendments to the General Permitted Development Orders.  We gave a full response to the relevant consultation paper, and the resulting amendments to the legislation are planned for early Spring.  The main changes proposed - which we supported - were to make the notices of removal of permitted development rights for agriculture and forestry [Articles 4] easier to serve, and to strengthen the Temporary Stop Notice procedures for controlling the placement of caravans.

We have continued to liaise with Jocelyn Davis AM at Cardiff, and have asked her to try to ensure that the Westminster proposals are taken on board and absorbed into the current Review of Planning Enforcement in Wales. She has raised the sub-plotting issue on a number of occasions in the Assembly and its Environment Planning & Countryside Committee.

We will continue to vigorously press to get official acceptance of our case before the Assembly assumes its additional legislative powers.

Contact us

If you would like to know more about our work, please contact the membership secretary, Richard Mitchley.

Click here to visit CPRW website

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